Penang Char Koay Teow At 1 Utama
Penang char koay teow.
Wuan and I would patronize restaurants serving Penang hawker food whenever we come across any in the Klang Valley. We were at 1 Utama last weekend and were undecided on what we wanted to eat after we finished watching ASIMO in action. We wandered around and came across a restaurant tucked in a corner and remembered that we had eaten there once a few months before. I also recalled that I had a rice set dish which I thought was too bland in taste.
To play safe, I decided to order something else. The last time I had char koay teow was many many months ago. I have yet to taste a plate of nice Penang char koay teow in the Klang Valley. I ordered that anyway hoping that it would appease my appetite at the very least. I also ordered cincau. Cincau or leong fun is a black grass jelly. It is served thinly sliced in a glass of simple syrup and ice cubes. It is one of my favourite drinks. Cincau is especially refreshing on hot days.
It took a while before the dish was served. The moment it was laid on on the table, I already knew I would not like it. First, it did not have that unique aroma common in a good plate of char koay teow. First and foremost, the koay teow must be stir-friend on a kuali that is well heated which I believed was not the case. The heat is to remove the raw smell of the taugeh (bean sprouts) and bring out the aroma of the other ingredients, especially the egg.
The dish had the usual ingredients like ku chai (chives), si hum (cockles), shelled prawns, taugeh, crab meat and egg. What it did not have were bak eu pok (crispy pork lard) and sliced lap cheong (Chinese waxed sausage). The omission of the last two ingredients kind of contributed to the lack of aroma. Penang char koay teow without the bak eu pok is just not Penang char koay teow.
Sauces also play an important role in making a good plate of char koay teow. I guess it was not well blended. The dish was rather bland and not as spicy as it should be. Char koay teow should be a little on the salty side which is somewhat complimented by the sweetness of the lap cheong slices. This dish was none of those. All said, I would rather forget that I had char koay teow that day. It was a total disappointment and I promised myself that I will never return to eat at that restaurant again.
Tags: 1 Utama, bak eu pok, bean sprouts, black grass jelly, char kway teow, Chinese waxed sausage, chives, cockles, crab meat, crispy pork lard, ku chai, lap cheong, leong fun, Penang char koay teow, Penang hawker food, prawns, rice noodle, si hum, simple syrup, stir fried rice noodle, taugeh
Penang New Lane Chee Cheong Chook
Once upon a time, one of my favourite Penang hawker food is chee cheong chuk. It is Cantonese style congee with pig intestines as its main ingredient. The intestines are either deep-fried or boiled. Chopped char siu (barbecued pork) is usually added to the porridge with spring onion thrown in as garnishing. I prefer the deep-fried intestines for its aroma and crunchiness. The boiled intestines can be a little chewy at times.
Photo by Wuan.
The taste of the porridge differs from hawker to hawker depending on how the intestines are prepared. I was told that the better tasting intestines are those that are not thoroughly washed so as to retain its natural pungence that reeks slightly of urine. I am not fond of that smell. That is why I am selective of the hawkers I get my chee cheong chuk from.
When Wuan and I were in Penang recently, Suanie and her friend Pinky incidentally were there too. So we arranged with Bryan and Reallybites to meet for dinner. We went to New Lane which is famous for its hawker food. This area has been a hawker food heaven in Penang for as long as I can remember due to its strategic location that is smack right in the middle of town.
Photo by Wuan.
At the mention of New Lane, the only thing that struck my mind is chee cheong chuk. There are other nice food there but I have always related New Lane to chee cheong chuk. It is actually taboo food now but I have not had it for at least a decade already. I have forgotten how it really tasted like before but it was something that I wanted to try again. Inside the mouth, the crispy intestines were a stark contrast against the smooth texture of the porridge. After years of eating bland food due to my kidney problems, I found the taste too strong to my liking. I did not finish eating it. Nevertheless, I was contented that I had finally gotten the opportunity to taste the porridge that my taste buds have been pining for a long time now.
Tags: chee cheong chook, chee cheong chuk, New Lane Penang, Penang hawker food, pig intestine porridge
Apong Guan – Delicious Pancakes In Penang
Photo by Wuan.
Apom, apong or pancake is a delicious savoury that can be enjoyed in between meal times. It is made with a batter of flour and eggs with banana slices and corn added while it is cooking. My first taste of it was more than three decades ago. At that time, I was staying in Ayer Itam. There was a hawker selling it at the market in the evenings. It was my parents’ favourite. Every now and then when my parents were still around, they would buy ten pieces on their way home from work.
Photo by Wuan.
When I had a motorcycle, I would sometimes detour from my usual route home after school to buy a few pieces from a stall located just before Union Primary School at Burmah Road. On my last two trips to Penang, I took Wuan down a memory lane of sorts. We stopped at the stall for a few pieces of my favourite pancake. It is amazing this stall is still around after so many years - twenty five at least. We had to wait for thirty minutes as there was a queue of people buying ten or twenty pieces each at one go.
Photo by Wuan.
It now costs 30 sen per piece. If I remember correctly, it was only RM1 for five pieces during my schooling days. Nevertheless, it still tasted as good as I had remembered it, especially when it is fresh out from the pan, moist and piping hot. It is not too sweet also. This suits me just fine as I do not have a sweet tooth. The banana slices and sweet corn made biting into it a pleasure to the senses - the banana with its fragrance and the sweet corn kernels with its chewiness. The 30 minute wait was worth it. You can be sure that I will drop in again for a few of the pancakes on my next trip to Penang.
Photo by Wuan.
Tags: apom, apong, banana and sweet corn pancake, Burmah Road Penang, Penang hawker food, Union Primary School
Penang Hawker Food Slowly Losing Its Unique Tastes
It was silly of me to still think that only Penang has the best hawker food anywhere in Malaysia. Penang used to have hawker food that tasted really nice. Among my favourites are hokkien mee, kali mee, wantan mee, popiah and char kuey teow. Over the years, especially since I moved down to Kuala Lumpur, I have come to realise that the hawker food in my little island paradise do not taste as good as it used to be anymore during those few trips back.
In my opinion, the major cause of this is the ingredients. In the olden days, the hawkers prepared all the essential ingredients by themselves. They pounded the chilies, made the pastes and soup stock, deep-fried the shallots and even made the noodles used in their trades. This made the taste of their respective food unique only to them.
In contrast, many hawkers nowadays buy ready-made ingredients such as chili paste, noodles and even deep-fried shallots to cut down on preparation time and cost. That special touch in making the taste unique is lost. The ingredients used by one hawker is used by a few others who get their supplies from the same wholesaler. Mass production in the name of economy of scale is slowly killing what Penang has been famous for.
Once in a while, I still pine for the hokkien mee that the uncle sporting a crew cut hawked beside the bus stop opposite the PBA (Pihak Berkuasa Air) in Rifle Range. The spicy prawn and pork bone-based soup was simply delicious. Thinly sliced prawns and pork were generously added into the noodles. That was when I was still in primary school. Those were the days when hawkers went the extra mile to ensure that they put in only the best ingredients. How I miss those times.
Tags: Penang char kuey teow, Penang hawker food, Penang hokkien mee, Penang kali mee, Penang popiah, wantan mee